


By The Shivering Sea

by havocthecat



Series: Pirate Queen Lizzie [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Femslash, Het, Multi, PTSD, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-17
Updated: 2006-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-04 20:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/397724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Janet spends her time on Atlantis recovering from her ordeal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By The Shivering Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here on LJ](http://havocthecat.livejournal.com/418103.html?style=mine#cutid1).

Atlantis spread out around the royal palace, but the ocean surrounded the city. Soft mist wreathed the city, blurring the outlines of the building, and obscuring the distant horizon. Janet stood on the balcony, hands resting lightly on the rails, and stared out as the tide came in and the sun slowly sank through the mist as it set.

"Here you go," said Elizabeth, slipping through the curtained doorway. She held a steaming mug in each hand, and walked over to lean on the balcony rail next to Janet. "I brought you some chocolate."

Janet leaned one arm on the rail, turned to face Elizabeth. "Thank you," she said, taking the mug gingerly.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked Elizabeth, nodding out at the ocean.

"It's big." Janet wrapped her hands around the mug and sipped the chocolate.

"That's...one word for it," said Elizabeth, bemused. "Not generally the one I'd use, but a valid comparison nevertheless."

"Until two years ago, I'd never seen so much water in one place," said Janet. She shook her head, a rueful smile hovering at the edges of her mouth. "Actually, the first time I'd seen the ocean in daylight was the day I met you and Teyla."

"What was it like for you?" asked Elizabeth, tilting her head and studying Janet. "When you saw it for the first time? I grew up with the ocean; I can't imagine it _not_ being there."

"You don't want to hear about the first time I saw the ocean," said Janet dryly.

"Not pleasant, I take it?" asked Elizabeth, her voice light.

"Singularly _un_ pleasant," replied Janet.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply, but just then, Rodney pushed through the curtains and stalked up to her. "I need to make modifications to the sloop," he said. "If you let me take out the interior bulkheads, not only can we increase the Daedalus' speed, we could fit additional cannons in there."

"I'm a little busy, Rodney," said Elizabeth, glancing at Janet, and then back at Rodney. "This can wait."

"I can come back later," said Janet, taking a step back from Rodney.

"No, it can't," said Rodney, ignoring Janet. "You said you wanted to take her out again soon. I talked to Ronon, and he said that you needed to be faster and have bigger guns, which means we need to get started on modifications right away."

"Rodney," said Elizabeth, her voice forceful.

"Yes, what?" asked Rodney, frowning at her.

"Does Ronon captain the Daedalus?" asked Elizabeth.

"Well, no, but he--" started Rodney.

"You can just tell Ronon that, sick bed or no, he can come to me with his proposed modifications to _my_ ship, and I will _consider_ them," said Elizabeth firmly.

"Ronon wasn't out of bed, was he?" asked Janet, frowning slightly.

"Yes, of course he was," said Rodney. "He came to my workshop." He waved his hand impatiently. "He said he was feeling fine."

"He's an idiot," said Janet. "Elizabeth, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go track down Ronon and read him the riot act." She stepped toward the curtained entryway.

"Don't do that," said Rodney, his hand clamping down on her wrist. "Kate already--"

He was cut off by the contents of Janet's mug of chocolate splashing into his face. The cup thudded against the stone floor of the balcony and shattered, as Janet twisted her wrist free, then planted both hands on Rodney's chest and shoved him backwards.

"Janet!" exclaimed Elizabeth. She stepped in front of Rodney, her hands outstretched. "Janet. Calm down. You're on Atlantis. You're safe here." Her voice was soothing, and she stood there, waiting for Janet to react.

"She hit me!" exclaimed Rodney.

Janet shook her head, then sighed as she looked up at Elizabeth. "I pushed you," she snapped. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I--"

"I know," said Elizabeth gently. "Maybe you should talk to Kate."

"Maybe I should," agreed Janet. "But I probably won't." She slipped between Rodney and Elizabeth, and moved silently out of the room.

"What's her problem?" asked Rodney, turning around in a circle to point at Janet as she left. Elizabeth sighed and shook her head at him.

***

"Elizabeth told me where you were," said Kate, sitting down next to Janet. She spread her skirts on the garden bench as she sat, where the pale pink silk spilled over onto Janet's blue muslin gown.

Janet glanced briefly at Kate, then moved away as she let her gaze return to the garden in front of them. "I'm sure she did."

"She's concerned," said Kate, turning on the bench to look at Janet. "You and Rodney had quite an altercation this morning."

"At the risk of sounding like a child," said Janet, dryly. "He _did_ start it."

"And Elizabeth had words with him about that," said Kate, her voice gentle, but firm. "He wasn't aware of your background."

Janet shot a glare at Kate. "I'm not made from glass," she said tersely. "I'd rather not be treated differently than anyone else."

"But you are different, Janet," said Kate softly. "My rooms are next to yours, because Carson agreed that you should continue treating my husband. You have nightmares. Neither Ronon nor I have told anyone, but we _have_ heard them. You flinch if anyone comes too close. No one on Atlantis has been a prisoner of the Wraith as long as you have."

Janet murmured something almost inaudible, still staring at the garden.

Kate sighed. "I want to help you," she said. "But I can't. Not if you won't let me."

One slow nod was the only response Janet gave. Still, Kate smiled briefly. It was more than she'd gotten any of the previous times she'd tried to talk to Janet.

"You must want to return home very badly," said Kate evenly. She turned to the garden, looking out on it along with Janet.

Janet leaned forward, her palms resting on the bench on either side of her. "I miss them," she said quietly.

"Your family?" asked Kate, her voice lightly curious. She leaned back slightly, on the periphery of Janet's vision, but not out of sight.

"There was an ambush." Janet took slow, even breaths, but she leaned forward even farther, gripping the edges of the bench with white knuckles. "I'd been traveling with a caravan. We were returning home before the winter storms hit."

"Winter in the mountain ranges must be particularly harsh," said Kate. She held herself still; if she barely moved except to breathe, she was a backdrop to the garden, and therefore, non-threatening.

"But beautiful," said Janet, shifting to look at her.

"I can't imagine what it would be like."

"No, I imagine the winters here must be very different," said Janet, a slight smile on her face.

Kate held back a sigh. "Warmer, certainly," she said.

"I'll be fine, Kate," said Janet. She clasped her hands in her lap. "I'm hardly the first person to have been held captive."

"The Wraith don't leave their captives alive," said Kate. "Not unless they've put them to work, or intend to use them as cannon fodder."

Janet's face hardened. "I told you, they wanted something from me," she said.

"All we want is to help you," said Kate.

"Of course," said Janet, standing abruptly. "I don't want to talk about my time with the Wraith. I don't want to talk about the Goa'uld. I don't want to talk about what they wanted, or why they kept me alive. What I want is very simple, and that is to get passage on a ship sailing for the mainland, so that I can make my way back home before winter."

"Finding a ship other than Daedalus that's willing to brave Wraith-infested waters is going to be difficult," said Kate. "Have you talked to Elizabeth yet?"

"I'm a little tired of talking right now, Kate," snapped Janet, pivoting on one foot, and walking quickly out of the garden.

Kate held her breath until Janet was out of sight, then sighed explosively. "Well," she said to the empty garden, leaning against the back of the bench. "That could have gone worse."

***

"She refuses to talk, Elizabeth," said Kate, pacing the length of Elizabeth's receiving chamber. "And to be honest, if she doesn't want to, I can't force her into that."

"Is she a risk?" asked Admiral Sheppard. He was sprawled on a fainting couch that had never seen its intended use, not since Elizabeth's coronation. "Maybe she was a collaborator." He shrugged. We've seen it before."

"I do not believe she is a collaborator," said Teyla. She was seated in a chair next to Elizabeth, a mug of tea steaming in her hands. "Those who follow the Wraith behave with an aura of reverence toward them. Nothing can disguise it completely."

"I agree," said Elizabeth. "None of you saw her onboard the Hive."

"But you didn't actually _see_ her kill that Wraith noble," said John. "She could've just taken advantage of the guy already being dead."

Elizabeth inclined her head. "It's possible," she said, glancing around the room at her advisors. "She was in an extremely weakened condition."

"Only one way to find out if she's capable of it," said Ronon. He'd been lying quietly on the settee until now, one hand wrapped around his injured stomach.

Teyla's eyes gleamed and a slow smile spread across her face. "It has been some time since I have had a new sparring partner," she said.

"A friendly match wouldn't go amiss," agreed John, a watchful tension coiling behind his relaxed pose. "You've gotta admit, Elizabeth, it'd give us a good idea of what she can do."

"Oh, brilliant idea," said Rodney, casting a quick, impatient glare at John. "Let's give the crazy woman a weapon and let the Queen's lo--closest friend near her. What the _hell_ are you people thinking?"

"She's too weak for that," said Kate. "I visited Carson this morning; he thinks she's still got a lot of strength to regain."

"It's not _that_ bad an idea, McKay," said John. "Better to send Teyla at her first if she's going to be trouble."

"She's not a collaborator." Ronon struggled to push himself upright as Kate gave him an impatient look.

"Sit," she said, pointing at the settee.

Elizabeth's raised eyebrow and a soft clearing of her throat was enough to quiet the room, and have her advisors staring expectantly at her. "Wooden practice blades _only_ ," she said, looking at each of them in turn. "And I expect a friendly match to be _kept_ friendly. Am I understood?"

"As you wish it, Elizabeth," said Teyla, inclining her head.

***

The library was still, light filtering in at the edges of the curtained windows. Janet let the door close gently behind her, instead of letting it fall shut with an audible thunk, and made her way slowly to the desk. Miko was sitting behind it, spectacles on, and hunched over a book, making notations with a quill held in one hand, and pushing her long black hair behind her ears with her other hand.

"Miko?" asked Janet softly.

Miko looked up quickly, then smiled. "Janet," she said, her voice soft. "I should have known that it was you. No one else is here at dawn."

"I couldn't sleep," said Janet, smiling in return. "And there's only so much midnight pacing you can do. Parrish threatened to lock me out of the kitchens if I went there for an early-morning snack again."

Miko nodded. "He is very protective of his domain," she said. "Be careful if you walk in the herb gardens. He is a demon if he believes his plants are threatened."

Janet laughed quietly. "I'll keep that in mind," she said. "I _did_ sneak into the kitchen long enough to pick up breakfast first. She held up a couple of rolls wrapped in parchment paper. "Can I leave them here while I spend some time in the room with the older books?"

"You may be missing one when you come back," said Miko, grinning. "If those are the sweet rolls, and not the artichoke ones."

"Why, I think they might be," said Janet, smiling. "It's just a shame we can't risk bringing tea into the library."

"There may be tea in my office," said Miko, nodding to a side door. "On a table which contains no books on it. Perhaps we can have breakfast with tea when you are finished with your reading?"

"That sounds positively delicious, Miko," she said.

"I will see you when you have finished," said Miko, smiling. "Do you need paper for your notes?"

Janet shook her head. "I brought them along," she said. "Are quills and ink still available in there?"

"If you make sure to use an inkstand," said Miko severely.

"Always," said Janet. "My h--" She shook her head. "I don't think I've ever been around books without taking the best possible care of them."

Miko nodded. "I sometimes think it is unique to the alchemists."

"And speaking of alchemy," said Rodney, walking up to the desk. "I need those books that I asked you to copy, Miko."

"And on that note," said Janet, smiling tightly. "I'll just leave you two in peace."

She turned to leave, nodding at Miko.

"Seriously, I don't get what her problem is," said Rodney.

***

Janet sighed and turned another of the thick vellum pages, then set her quill down, marking her place in the book with a ribbon.

"Dr. Fraiser," said a firm voice, and Janet looked up to see a dark-skinned man with short hair standing in the doorway. He wore the uniform of Elizabeth's city guard, but she didn't recognize him out of any of the guards she'd seen.

"Can I help you?" asked Janet.

"I'm Captain Bates," said the man, nodding curtly. "I've been asked to escort you to weapons practice today."

Janet stared at him flatly.

"If you'll come with me, ma'am," he said, gesturing toward the exit to the library.

"I'm afraid I didn't receive an invitation to weapons practice," said Janet. She glanced pointedly down at her notes, then back at Captain Bates. "And I'm currently occupied."

"I've given orders to Miko that your work isn't to be disturbed," said Captain Bates, clasping his hands behind his back and watching her carefully.

"I see I don't have a choice," said Janet, her voice light. She pushed back from her chair and stood, meeting his gaze evenly. "Very well, then, Captain. Lead the way."

***

Elizabeth met Janet's eyes as she and Teyla walked into the salle. Captain Bates was standing in the edge of Janet's vision, and she tossed quick, sharp glances toward him, her still posture and the mask of her expression growing more statue-like with every movement that he made. Rodney stood nearby, fidgeting nervously, with Admiral Sheppard lounging against a wall.

Elizabeth breathed out a soft curse. Janet was still wearing the green dress she had been when Rodney had told Elizabeth that Janet was in the library. Teyla and Elizabeth wore breeches, ready for weapons practice. "Did anyone think to tell Janet what today's agenda is?" she asked Teyla quietly.

Teyla glanced from Janet to Elizabeth. "I believe not," she said. "It appears you may need to speak with Major Sheppard regarding the treatment we extend to our guests."

"It _does_ appear so, doesn't it?" asked Elizabeth, masking the tension in her stance with a friendly nod at Janet.

The slight inclination of Janet's head was the only indication she'd noticed Elizabeth's gesture.

"I suppose you'd best go and talk to her," said Elizabeth.

"Me?" asked Teyla, surprised. "I had thought you would wish to explain the situation to her."

"You're the one who's going to be sparring," said Elizabeth, smiling sweetly at Teyla.

"Coward." Teyla moved toward Janet with a slow, easy grace, not allowing the sudden wariness passing across Janet's face to deter her. "Good day, Janet."

"Teyla." Janet didn't move an inch.

"Captain Bates has no doubt explained to you why we requested that you choose to attend us at weapons practice today," said Teyla, her voice calm.

"I'm afraid I really don't know," said Janet quietly.

"It has been some time since I have had a new sparring partner," said Teyla. Her look at Captain Bates left the man in no doubt that they would have words in the future. "I had hoped that you would do me the honor of a practice bout."

Janet's mouth twisted into a smile. "I see," she said, glancing at Elizabeth, then at Rodney, who started abruptly, and Admiral Sheppard, who waved with an friendly smile that never reached his eyes. "I suppose we'd better get started, then."

"You are willing?" asked Teyla.

Janet stopped, mid-step, on her way to the rack of wooden practice weapons. "Willing. Right." She turned back toward the practice swords and began to inspect them.

"Should be fun," murmured John, watching Janet and Teyla.

Elizabeth would lay strong odds that Janet had rolled her eyes, and she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "I'm beginning to think that we've miscalculated," Elizabeth murmured in return. "One of you find Kate. Tell her to get in here. _Now._ "

"You're not going to stop the match, are you?" asked John. He studied Janet curiously as she tested the heft and balance of a saber.

"Not unless something goes drastically wrong," said Elizabeth. She could hear Rodney outside, telling Sergeant Markham that Elizabeth was expecting Kate's presence in the salle.

Janet looked up at Teyla, her expression determined, and brushed her hands against Teyla's forearms, their heads meeting in the Athosian gesture for barely an instant before Janet pulled away. "Thought she didn't like to be touched," said John slowly.

"She doesn't," said Elizabeth, crossing her arms. "John, if something goes wrong--"

"It won't," he said, holding his hands up as Elizabeth raised one eyebrow and looked coolly at him. "I'm just saying! If Janet can't handle herself, I wanna know."

Janet held up her saber, her arm trembling slightly, her gaze following Teyla as they circled each other. Teyla feinted, her blade coming in low, and Janet darted backwards, parrying the second strike aimed at her sword arm. Too quickly, Teyla's blade circled Janet's, and she knocked it aside, but too late. Teyla had caught the hilt, and their sabers were wrenched from their hands.

Kate came through the doorway, escorted by Sergeant Markham, and stood by Elizabeth, watching the fight.

Janet hissed in pain, scrambling to the side in a desperate reach for her sword, but Teyla had already drawn the spare blade at her belt, and slapped the flat of the wood against Janet's outstretched wrist.

Kate moved the instant the panic broke through Janet's blank mask, running toward the circle. Elizabeth held up one hand when John reached for his knife and started forward, Bates and Markham following him. They all fell back, watching expectantly.

Janet bent down and snatched up her saber, kicking Teyla's fallen blade to the side, then moved forward, pressing a furious attack at Teyla, who parried each stroke easily. Kate stopped just outside of the blade's reach. "Janet!"

Teyla lunged forward, rapping the practice sword against the bruise forming on Janet's wrist, and the sword dropped from Janet's numb fingers. She cradled her wrist against her body, breathing heavily, and glared impartially at everyone in the room.

"Are you all right, Janet?" asked Kate, letting her concern show. She came toward Janet, ignoring the dirt her skirts were trailing in.

Janet took a step back. "I can wrap a sprained wrist," she snapped, yanking up the hem of her skirt and ripping the fabric, visibly biting back a cry of pain. "Let's stop pretending. Can we at least do that?"

"No one is pretending anything," said Elizabeth, her voice even, walking slowly toward them.

Janet laughed sharply. "That's what you keep saying," she spat, pulling up the sleeve of her gown. "And every time I start to believe you, something like this happens. Weapons practice? With a woman who can barely hold up a sword, and isn't dressed for it in the first place?"

"That's not what this was," said Kate. The disappointment in her look at Elizabeth would have cut, if Kate hadn't been as guilty of misjudgment as Elizabeth. There was _something_ they were all missing that was changing the situation drastically.

"That's not what this was?" Janet held a strip of fabric in her sprained hand, and used the other hand to twist the strip around her injured wrist, pulling it tight with each rotation. She snorted. "Please."

"I did not mean to offend you," said Teyla. She slowly lowered her weapon to the ground. "Among my people, when one is rescued from captivity, one begins training in order to regain the ability to fight immediately. I had assumed that it was the same with your people."

"My people." Janet's gaze shot to Teyla, then she glanced right over Kate to stare at Elizabeth with a measured, reined-in fury.

"Janet, whatever you're thinking, you're going to have to tell us," said Elizabeth softly. "We can't know unless you do."

"I want you to stop pretending," said Janet, tucking in the loose ends of fabric with deft fingers.

"We're not pretending!" exclaimed Elizabeth.

"I do not know what you think we are trying to hide," said Teyla, her voice measured and hard. "I do not let even a weapon meant for practice into the hands of one I consider an enemy."

Kate was studying Janet. "Your people," she said quietly. "That's who you're trying to protect. Your family. Every time you start to talk about them, you change the subject." She paused, watching Janet freeze motionless. "Is that what the Wraith wanted?"

Janet stared at them wordlessly, her face a mask, and her body utterly still.

"That's what they wanted?" asked Elizabeth. "Your family? No one here wants to take them from you, Janet!"

"No," said Janet. "You don't want my family. You want my city."

"We do not wish anything from a city in the mountains," said Teyla. "Except to expand our opportunities for trade."

"And perhaps to seek an alliance," said Elizabeth reassuringly. "I'm sure your people will feel the same as we do about the Wraith once you explain your captivity to them."

Kate frowned, shaking her head at Elizabeth quickly. "What is it, Janet?" she asked.

"You don't know?" Janet frowned. "You don't know where I'm from."

"We don't," said Elizabeth firmly.

"Simply that it is a city in the Colorado mountain range," said Teyla. "My people do not go inland often. Many of us never do."

"We've all been very occupied in our fight with the Wraith," said Elizabeth.

"You won't be able to trade with my city easily," said Janet. She looked at Elizabeth. "And alliances with us are hard to come by."

"I like a challenge," said Elizabeth, straightening her stance. "But Janet--why would the Wraith be interested in a city in the Colorado mountain range?"

"You really don't know, do you?" asked Janet, frowning.

"Know what?" asked Teyla. "You are from far inland, a place we have not heard of before. Why would we know what the Wraith would have wanted from you?"

"I've been given to understand Cheyenne is near-mythical in these parts," said Janet, her lips twitching into a too-brief wry grin.

"Wait, what?" Rodney bolted upright as John slowly straightened. "You're from Cheyenne?" Rodney rushed forward, pushing past Elizabeth, to stand in front of Janet. "You have to tell us more. Do--do you know the kind of stories they tell about Cheyenne? Is it true the Ancients hid the Philosopher's Stone in the mountains?"

"Rodney--" Elizabeth frowned at him.

"Can't blame him for being excited," drawled John, strolling up behind Elizabeth. "Cheyenne's a pretty big legend around these parts."

"Atlantis is just as big a legend where I'm from," said Janet, crossing her arms as she met John's eyes.

"Elizabeth, you don't understand," said Rodney. "Cheyenne--the Ancients--the founders of Atlantis--"

"My husband is a historian," said Janet coolly, glancing dismissively at Rodney. "Believe me when I say I understand all the theorized interrelationships between the founding of our respective cities."

"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Elizabeth, frowning. "I know you've been spending hours in the library, studying the founding of Atlantis. I presumed it was curiosity."

"We've been at war with the Goa'uld for more years than I can remember," said Janet. "They'd give anything for a way into our city. We haven't even begun The Wraith would do the same. I'm not giving it to you either." Her eyes swept the room. "I hope that's understood."

She nodded tersely, meeting Elizabeth's eyes with a guarded look, and left the salle.

***

"How are you feeling?" asked Elizabeth, standing awkwardly in the doorway to Janet's room.

Janet raised one shoulder in a shrug, then let it fall. "I can't get off this damn island, I was forced into a fencing bout where I was severely overmatched, I've been fending off your chief alchemist for the better part of the day, and my wrist won't stop hurting. How do you _think_ I feel, Elizabeth?"

"I came to apologize," said Elizabeth. "Can I come in?"

Janet rolled her eyes. "Why bother asking? It's your palace." She shifted to the side.

Elizabeth nodded slowly as she walked into the room, surveying what she saw. "But it's your room. Are you comfortable here?" she asked. Do you have everything you need?"

Janet nodded slowly. "I don't have to wear the same dress every day," she said. "And Parrish sends meals up to me when I ask. It's fine."

"You take all of your meals in this room," said Elizabeth, wandering around and inspecting the notes scattered on Janet's writing desk. "Some mornings you'll come down to the kitchens and try to wheedle one of the cooks into giving you a snack to take to the gardens."

"I'm not feeling very sociable these days," said Janet. "And I'm usually up early, before they've gotten breakfast finished."

"That's early," said Elizabeth. She turned to Janet, studying her. "Do you sleep well?"

Janet snorted. "Please. Would you, if you were in my place?"

"I suppose not," said Elizabeth. "I'm sorry."

"Not that I don't appreciate the thought, but you're not exactly responsible for my difficulty sleeping," said Janet, a smile ghosting over her face.

"That's not-- I let Teyla go forward with the practice bout," said Elizabeth. "I didn't realize that they would send Captain Bates to find you. His lack of tact is almost as famed as Rodney's."

"Not everyone is as accommodating as you are, Elizabeth," said Janet. She sighed, shaking her head minutely. "I don't understand you people."

"What's so difficult to understand?" asked Elizabeth, moving to sit down at the small, round table in the corner of Janet's sitting room.

"If I'd taken a prisoner from a Goa'uld caravan, no matter what she'd done for a resident of my city, I'd have her under more guard than putting a healer and a wounded soldier in the next room," said Janet. "The Goa'uld--they have a way of getting inside you, so you serve their purposes, even if you don't realize it."

"The Wraith's false prisoners are usually a little more obvious," said Elizabeth. "They're usually a little stronger than you are."

"I see," said Janet warily.

"Didn't these Goa'uld try to--how did you put it? Get inside you?" asked Elizabeth. "They couldn't?"

"I know their tricks," said Janet. "If you know them, you can guard against them. Besides, the Goa'uld that kept me prisoner is dead." Her smile was satisfied. "I heard the guards talking about it. That was shortly before the Wraith raided the caravan that was keeping me imprisoned."

"I don't know how to convince you to trust us," said Elizabeth, leaning toward her. "I don't want the location of Cheyenne from you. I don't want to steal anything from your city. But, Janet, the things our cities could _learn_ from each other--"

"You think I don't know that?" exclaimed Janet. She crossed the room and sat across from Elizabeth. "I want to trust you, but I've spent five years as a prisoner. The Wraith--that captain--" A shudder she couldn't control shook her body.

"Don't think about it, Janet," said Elizabeth, reaching across the table and laying a comforting hand on her arm.

Janet glanced sharply at Elizabeth and pulled her arm slowly back. "Don't. Please."

"I'm sorry," said Elizabeth softly. "You seemed--earlier, with Teyla, like you could stand being touched, at least briefly."

"I forced myself into it," said Janet, stiffening. "My husband--" She took a deep breath. "If I ever see him again, what am I going to tell him?"

"He'll understand," said Elizabeth. "And he'll just be so glad you're alive. Anyone would."

"I guess we'll see," said Janet.

There was a loud pounding on her door, and Janet groaned. "Not _again_."

"Rodney?" asked Elizabeth, a sympathetic grin coming out.

"Rodney," agreed Janet, standing and stalking over to the door. She pulled it open, and stared flatly at Rodney.

"Yes, well, hello to you too," he said, blinking slightly after a stunned pause. "Look, Janet, I know you said not to come back, but this is important. The founders of Atlantis left, we know that, and we've always heard they'd gone to found Cheyenne, but I had always assumed that it was a myth, and now that we know Cheyenne is real--"

"There's no Philosopher's Stone," snapped Janet.

"Yes, yes, you've told me that already." Rodney waved one hand dismissively. "Do you think I'm an idiot? No, don't answer, of course you don't." He shoved past Janet, into the room, then turned and focused back on her. "Look, even if there's no Philosopher's Stone, there's an incredible wealth of treasure and lore there. We have a partial inventory of what the nine founders of Cheyenne took with them when they split from Atlantis, and when I say 'partial,' I mean 'a few scraps of parchment,' and just that's absolutely--"

"Rodney," said Elizabeth.

Rodney stopped, turned, and said, "Oh, hi, Elizabeth." He snapped his attention back to Janet. "Look, you just have to accept the fact that this is too important to let go--"

"Rodney!" Elizabeth's voice cracked out.

Rodney whirled to Elizabeth. "What?"

"You will _not_ pressure Janet for any information regarding Cheyenne," she said flatly, ignoring Janet's startled look.

"But Elizabeth--"

"Rodney," said Elizabeth, tilting her head and glaring at him. "I've made a decision, and that's the end of it."

"Oh, fine," said Rodney, flinging his arms up. "Be that way. Impede the scientific and alchemical progress we could make."

Janet rolled her eyes. "Out," she said.

"I'm not done yet!" exclaimed Rodney.

"You're done," said Janet, her eyes dangerously narrow.

"I'm not scared," said Rodney. "Teyla can beat you up. I think I could--"

"If you feel like having half a hope in hell of getting me to do anything for you," said Janet. "Then you'd better believe we're finished here."

"Better listen to her," said Elizabeth, holding her laughter in. She couldn't stop the smirk from appearing. "And to me. Who's the ruler of this city?"

"Just because you were the captain when we found her--" started Rodney.

"Out," said Elizabeth firmly.

"But Eliz--"

"Out," repeated Elizabeth.

Rodney frowned sullenly and stomped out of the room.

"So why do you keep him around again?" asked Janet, closing her door again.

"He's a genius." Elizabeth spread her hands. "A genius with no social skills and a limited grasp of when to let go, but he's amazing at what he does."

"He's unique, anyway," muttered Janet, moving to sit back down with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth laughed. "That he is," she said.

\--end--


End file.
